Application process begins for new U.S. attorney

A day after new U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was sworn in to head the Department of Justice, potential candidates to be the next top federal prosecutor in San Diego await further instructions.

Candidates will be applying for the opening to Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose committee will screen candidates and recommend a selection to President Barack Obama.

Who is on that committee and when applications will be open could not be determined yesterday. Boxer's office did not respond to inquiries yesterday or last week.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the state's senior senator, will choose the prosecutor for two of the state's four judicial districts – the eastern district based in Sacramento and the central district in Los Angeles.

Feinstein is moving quickly, asking for applications for the Sacramento job by Monday, according to her press office.

It was unclear how quickly the new administration will name new prosecutors, all of whom would have to be confirmed by the Senate. Last month, administration officials asked all sitting U.S. attorneys to remain in place.

Karen Hewitt has been U.S. attorney in San Diego since Feb. 16, 2007, when she replaced Carol Lam, who was dismissed. Hewitt received a formal appointment to the post in October 2007 by the district court judges, as allowed under federal law.

Hewitt, a career prosecutor with the department, pledged in a statement yesterday to work with the new administration in the transition.

Hewitt took the post after the firing of Lam by the administration of President George W. Bush. She was one of nine prosecutors who, it was later revealed, were purged from the department in a scandal that led to congressional hearings and a scathing report from a Justice Department inspector general, and contributed to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.

Lam's tenure was cut short because she was not filing as many immigration and gun prosecution cases as the administration wanted.

The scandal has not died. For the second time, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives has issued subpoenas for the testimony of Karl Rove, a top adviser to Bush, as it investigates the firing of Lam and others and the alleged politically driven hiring practices at the department.

On Monday night in San Diego, Lam and two other fired attorneys – John McKay of the Seattle-based western Washington district and Paul Charlton of the Arizona district – spoke to a packed room of attorneys about the firings and their fallout.

Few new details were revealed, but the discussion highlighted the challenges for Holder. While U.S. attorneys are political appointments, they historically had a level of nonpartisanship that lent credibility to their work, Lam said.

But the way the firings were handled and the aftermath upset that balance and reverberated through the department, she said.